Big Deal About CrossFit?

Training
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[quote]batman730 wrote:
At risk of further beating this particular dead (and at this point decomposing) horse…

In a lot of the discussions about crossfit on these boards, one of the recurring themes seems to be that “crossfitters are assholes”. In my experience the vast majority of people are kind of assholes, and since it’s people who do CF, I’m not sure why CF’ers should be any different.

CF’ers are into CF so they tend to be assholes about CF and fitness in general. That being said, I really don’t know that CF caused them to become assholes, it just happens to be the philosophy that they bought into, so it’s what they choose to be assholes about. No real surprise there

People who are into politics tend to be assholes about politics, people who are into religion tend to be assholes about religion. Seems to be human nature. This, to me, is commentary on people, not politics or religion. Likewise with CF, IMO.
[/quote]

I wish you would have posted this a couple weeks ago, then I would not be wasting my life trying to defend assholes. Seriously you can apply this logic to any internet discussion board. Great post. I am a little jealous I didn’t think of this first.

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[quote]fattymcfatso wrote:

[quote]batman730 wrote:
At risk of further beating this particular dead (and at this point decomposing) horse…

In a lot of the discussions about crossfit on these boards, one of the recurring themes seems to be that “crossfitters are assholes”. In my experience the vast majority of people are kind of assholes, and since it’s people who do CF, I’m not sure why CF’ers should be any different.

CF’ers are into CF so they tend to be assholes about CF and fitness in general. That being said, I really don’t know that CF caused them to become assholes, it just happens to be the philosophy that they bought into, so it’s what they choose to be assholes about. No real surprise there

People who are into politics tend to be assholes about politics, people who are into religion tend to be assholes about religion. Seems to be human nature. This, to me, is commentary on people, not politics or religion. Likewise with CF, IMO.
[/quote]

I wish you would have posted this a couple weeks ago, then I would not be wasting my life trying to defend assholes. Seriously you can apply this logic to any internet discussion board. Great post. I am a little jealous I didn’t think of this first.[/quote]

Kind of you to say so.

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[quote]fattymcfatso wrote:
I am a little intrigued by the definition of sport and how it varys from person to person. I had a pretty deep discussion with some guys at my gym about it. I don’t think that there can be a universal definition of sport.

My main argument on this thread the entire time was that I think CrossFit is a sport, and I am impressed with the top CrossFit athletes. I know this may differ from what you guys think, but I am really curious now as to what your definition of a sport is.

Just to be clear on this, I am no longer interested in what you think of CrossFit. I only want to know what your personal definition of sport is. [/quote]

Hemingway supposedly once said something to the effect of “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” Although it’s possible that he never actually said this, but that’s beside the point.

Of course, he also later blew his brains out so I’m not sure if he was a really reliable source, but it still sounds pretty damn cool.

That being said, to me a sport can be any endeavour which tests any combination of courage, physical prowess and technical skill while remaining essentially frivolous in that it has no end outside of itself.

i.e. a race in which you actually needed to get to the finish line for some practical purpose would no longer be a sport.

So I suppose by my definition CF could be considered a sport. Although it is a pretty poor spectator sport, IMO.

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Would you consider chess a sport?

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[quote]tnationpaleo wrote:
Would you consider chess a sport?[/quote]

I would consider chess a contest, but not a sport.

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[quote]tnationpaleo wrote:
Would you consider chess a sport?[/quote]

Well, it doesn’t immediately come to mind as a sport because it is completely sedentary, despite requiring an extremely high level of technical skill.

That being said, competitive shooting, say 10m air rifle for example, is not really physically strenuous in the traditional sense (although standing that still undoubtedly requires excellent muscle control and body awareness as well as extraordinary mental focus). However I absolutely consider it to be a sport.

The IOC apparently agrees with me as shooting was one of nine events included at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 (I believe).

I generally tend to think of sport in the physical sense and as such pursue more physically rigorous sports. However many sports i.e. shooting, some sailing events, equestrian, curling, fishing, hunting, golf etc. are not necessarily overtly “physical” in nature but they are definitely sporting IMO.

So, maybe chess could be a sport…

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[quote]fattymcfatso wrote:
My main argument on this thread the entire time was that I think CrossFit is a sport, and I am impressed with the top CrossFit athletes. I know this may differ from what you guys think, but I am really curious now as to what your definition of a sport is.

Just to be clear on this, I am no longer interested in what you think of CrossFit. I only want to know what your personal definition of sport is. [/quote]

Anything can be considered a sport. Thumb wrestling, marbles, hand clapping, just as anything can be considered art. It’s more about how people view it in relation to other examples of sport (or art). A guy running a 6 minute mile in a sporting event just doesn’t impress as much as a guy going under 4 minutes. A 65 second 400m is significantly slower than the split times for competitive milers. The weightlifting numbers are weak compared to competitive lifters. Even when taken as a whole the numbers are still not impressive. So maybe it can be called a sport but it’s like comparing the WNBA to the NBA. They are both sports. They are both basketball. But if you ignored the fact one is women you wouldn’t be impressed by the WNBA when viewed against the NBA.

So Crossfit games appear to be like a decathlon for people who are not athletic enough to do decathlons. They are like strongman comps for weaklings (relatively speaking). Take the best Crossfit woman and compare her to a gold medalist in the heptathlon and you will see a very wide gap as far as athleticism and the path to winning at Crossfit is far easier than the path to winning a gold medal. The Croosfit “athlete” has to work hard in order to succeed. The Olympic athlete has to work harder and also be blessed with a lot of talent.

And I think that is what the people who put down Crossfit see as one of the reasons: the idea that Crossfitters think of themselves as athletes on the same level as athletes from established sports. That they think the Crossfit games are somehow on the same level as the Olympics or professional sports. It’s like participants in intramural sports at a D1 college comparing themselves to the athletes on the varsity teams. Yeah, flag football can be considered a sport but it is not anything like actual football.

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my younger friend played baseball from youth leagues to college then 3 years for the cincinnati

reds… baseball his whole life. specific training to be better at his passion…

now that baseball is over, he wanted to stay fit so he jogs a bit lifts a bit at home… he was looking into a gym to join. went to club fitness on a week free pass. not impressed with the wanna be arnolds personality, and just the too cool to even give you a spot guys there.

then he went to a crossfit gym on a weeks free pass. said he like it way better casue they have smaller groups training together…his first workout was 20 minutes of 5 pullups followed by 10 pushups followed by 15 air squats. all done as fast as you can… he tends to go a bit slower concentrating more on form, but the bottom line, he worked in with a small group… next few days it was running and one day it was a thruster movement he never dine before, so he just did some dips on the bars, did some on the rings and climbed the rope. then he did that thruster movement with only a bar…he said an instructor was there showing him correct form … bottom line he said, his pro baseball days are over, so he is choosing the crossfit gym over the club fitness gym csuse it has small groups to train with… he is just after overall fitness. not specific training to be better at one sport…the club fitness gym was closr to his house but he didnt care for the attitude of the guys in there…

depends what you are after… he didnt do one lick of crossfit training all those years of playing baseball. now baseball is over he’s doing crossfit just because of the different types of exercises you can do vs a regular gym… rope climbing. ring dips… rowing, and the friendliness of the people there…

when i was training to be the best mile runner i cold be, it was specific training for running. now i race bikes … specific training to be better on the bike. if i ever give up bike racing, i will do exactly what he did. go to a few gyms and see which is the best for me…competitive days will be over and which gym i join,will be the best equipped with what i want to do…

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[quote]zecarlo wrote:

[quote]fattymcfatso wrote:
My main argument on this thread the entire time was that I think CrossFit is a sport, and I am impressed with the top CrossFit athletes. I know this may differ from what you guys think, but I am really curious now as to what your definition of a sport is.

Just to be clear on this, I am no longer interested in what you think of CrossFit. I only want to know what your personal definition of sport is. [/quote]

Anything can be considered a sport. Thumb wrestling, marbles, hand clapping, just as anything can be considered art. It’s more about how people view it in relation to other examples of sport (or art). A guy running a 6 minute mile in a sporting event just doesn’t impress as much as a guy going under 4 minutes. A 65 second 400m is significantly slower than the split times for competitive milers. The weightlifting numbers are weak compared to competitive lifters. Even when taken as a whole the numbers are still not impressive. So maybe it can be called a sport but it’s like comparing the WNBA to the NBA. They are both sports. They are both basketball. But if you ignored the fact one is women you wouldn’t be impressed by the WNBA when viewed against the NBA.

So Crossfit games appear to be like a decathlon for people who are not athletic enough to do decathlons. They are like strongman comps for weaklings (relatively speaking). Take the best Crossfit woman and compare her to a gold medalist in the heptathlon and you will see a very wide gap as far as athleticism and the path to winning at Crossfit is far easier than the path to winning a gold medal. The Croosfit “athlete” has to work hard in order to succeed. The Olympic athlete has to work harder and also be blessed with a lot of talent.

And I think that is what the people who put down Crossfit see as one of the reasons: the idea that Crossfitters think of themselves as athletes on the same level as athletes from established sports. That they think the Crossfit games are somehow on the same level as the Olympics or professional sports. It’s like participants in intramural sports at a D1 college comparing themselves to the athletes on the varsity teams. Yeah, flag football can be considered a sport but it is not anything like actual football. [/quote]

Comparing CrossFit to anything besides CrossFit is not valid. There is no other activity that spreads an athlete so thin. One of the events in the 2009 games was a 7k trail run followed by a deadlift ladder. Being able to do a max snatch, followed by walking on your hands, followed by a farmers walk etc. The tests change every year. Being ready for anything (like it or not) is what the sport has become. If you can squat 700 lbs (raw of course) odds are you can’t do 15 muscle ups in a row or run kinda fast for a while. The sport or CrossFit punishes the specialist which is why CrossFit numbers will always be lower than specialists.

Rob Orlando is a perfect example. He is a former competitive strongman, who got into CrossFit. He is known for his strength as a CrossFitter now, but not as a strongman, since it is impossible to maintain both. Anthony Bainbridge went the other way, he started with CrossFit and found out he was very strong and now he competes in Powerlifting and has pulled over 300kg at 165. He is no longer good enough at CrossFit to be competitive in it since now he has chosen to specialize in only one area.

I get it. A 300 lb snatch is not impressive, a 6 minute mile is not impressive. If that was all Aja Barto could do I would not be impressed either.

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The elite CrossF_u_c_k_e_r_s are impressive athletes but the sport over-all is lame.
The problem I have is it turning into a cult similar to how triathlons.

It is full of average joes who can’t compete in anything else joining in to brag.

It is sort of like all those 5K runs you see.
Where people run to show they can run then send pictures of themselves with a stupid number on their chest to co-workers and post the pictures on facebook/twitter.

I just lift for me.
I stay fit for me.
And not to defend some plastic metal trophy or award or land on some ranking.
A ranking that I can only place on because of parity.

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[quote]fattymcfatso wrote:
I am a little intrigued by the definition of sport and how it varys from person to person. I had a pretty deep discussion with some guys at my gym about it. I don’t think that there can be a universal definition of sport.

My main argument on this thread the entire time was that I think CrossFit is a sport, and I am impressed with the top CrossFit athletes. I know this may differ from what you guys think, but I am really curious now as to what your definition of a sport is.

Just to be clear on this, I am no longer interested in what you think of CrossFit. I only want to know what your personal definition of sport is. [/quote]

I think to be a sport, there has to be some sort of physical competition. It doesn’t necessarily have to be organized, but it probably should be if it isn’t something that already is well defined. For instance, I’d say playing pick-up basketball is a sport while a 3-pt contest isn’t.
IMO training for a sport also isn’t a sport. i.e. a powerlifter is someone who enters powerlifting contests. If you just squat, bench and deadlift in training, and never compete, then you aren’t doing a sport.

As an aside, I wasn’t aware that Anthony Bainbridge was well known in crossfit circles. I’m an aquaintence of his through powerlifting. He’s very good at that.

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Ive been reading that CF site and all they talk about is 531, Starting Strength, and how you should strength train first because the guys who are good dont run around doing burpees and air squats every day.

I looked around and I just got a one month membership at a legit local box that holds oly lifting competitions and has programming that makes sense - most days are low rep strength or skill to start, then moderate reps in a circuit of exercises that complement the strength work for conditioning. So many places I looked at just seemed to prescribe tons of reps of whatever, and I couldnt put up with that just to play with the rope and rings. Im going to start once I hit my next DL goal ~2.5xbw, which should come in June. I hope to achieve muscle ups and abs and do a local competition once I am more “conditioned”

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cross fit = circuit training in vibrams.

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I past by the crossfit gym in bergen( norway ) today and 3 people I assume are crossfitters( 1 guy two girls ).
And the girls looked hot and the guy was buildt better than most people I see in the gym and alot better buildt than me, well however the last one is not so hard to accomplish LOL, but my point is that perhaps my wiew of crossfit where wrong and that they actually build badass males or atleast one.

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[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]florelius wrote:
I past by the crossfit gym in bergen( norway ) today and 3 people I assume are crossfitters( 1 guy two girls ).
And the girls looked hot and the guy was buildt better than most people I see in the gym and alot better buildt than me, well however the last one is not so hard to accomplish LOL, but my point is that perhaps my wiew of crossfit where wrong and that they actually build badass males or atleast one.
[/quote]

Well. That just settles it then[/quote]

Just an obsevation man.

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I had to bust my posting cherry for this one. For anyone who wants a good laugh about crossfit check out beastmodaldomains. EPIC has a serious hate on for the stupidity of crossfit. His posts about fat acceptance and the girl who gets run over by the car shes trying to pull kill me.

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[quote]shibboleth wrote:
I had to bust my posting cherry for this one. For anyone who wants a good laugh about crossfit check out beastmodaldomains. EPIC has a serious hate on for the stupidity of crossfit. His posts about fat acceptance and the girl who gets run over by the car shes trying to pull kill me.[/quote]

hahahahaha too much!

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STRONG GIRL DOES PULL UPS (39) - YouTube

Okay, that is awesome.

The reason I don’t consider crossfit a sport is because sport is specialization. Same thing with fitness. Fitness is the ability to perform a specific task. You cannot get fit at everything. Fitness is task specific. Sport is competition in that specialized task. You can only be fit within the specifics of a specialized task. Competing at a sport means getting as good as possible in a narrowed number of specific tasks within a specific framework. Crossfit as a sport would essentially mean specialization in everything. It’s a contradiction in terms. You can’t claim to be the fitness outside of a specific context and crossfit lacks that context.

Crossfit is actually anit-sport and anti-fitness. (not hating on it, it’s fun to watch and they work their asses off)

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As far as physiques go, at the top of the game you have people like Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa and Neal Maddox who are both bigger and leaner than most on these boards.

Now, I’m pretty sure none of those guys BUILT their physiques through doing crossfit WODs but it’s not automatically a signal for atrophy for most people.